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Saving the ocean one student at a time

School philosophy and Ocean Film Fest nurture children's love of the oceans

Louise Shannon-Martin/For the Cl

Tyler Thompson talks with students about ways to help marine life. (Louise Shannon-Martin/For the Closeup)

Louise Shannon-Martin/For the Cl

Thomas Terry, left, and Leighila Krasney give Sammy the Seal a hug at the Ocean Film Festival. (Louise Shannon-Martin/For the Closeup)

They drive our weather and oxygenize the planet. They are the beginning of the food chain and house some of the Earth's most unique species. They remain the last great mystery in the world, yet we take them for granted.

They are the oceans - the last great frontier.

But sadly they need our help.

Kids go to school. They learn math, they learn to read, and they learn to write. History is on the agenda as well as the sciences.

In the average curricula there are studies on the oceans, recycling and the environment - but is it enough? Will our oceans and seas survive through the millennia? Will the next generation fight for their preservation?

At Thunderbolt Elementary, the students there say yes.

Saving the seas takes just one student at a time. If you can turn one child's opinion, one child's ideals, one child's respect, than our 'blue' planet may have a chance.

At Thunderbolt, the students continue their journey of ocean stewardship one day at a time with themed lessons, a marine science lab and a marine science technology lab.

"It is these tools that will help make today's student tomorrow's champion," said Jill Lepo-Wieniewitz, marine science lab teacher.

And the folks at Grey's Reef understand this premise as well. That's why they invite and honor those students at their Ocean Film Festival co-sponsored by NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration).

This year the school set a record attendance when close to 100 students, parents and staff came out to the Trustee's Theater for Sea-side Saturday.

Sea-side Saturday is part of a three day weekend featuring independent films of sea life, ocean stewardship and environmental concerns. The Saturday morning film line up honored the students of Thunderbolt Elementary "for their accomplishments in studying marine life," according to the program.

The students got the opportunity to view five short films designed to garner their love of the oceans and nurture their desire to help preserve its future for generations to come. Two of the films showed how other students around the world impact the ocean's future.

"A Bridge to Puerto Rico" was about students from New York City who visit the island country and learn about ocean ecology and how to help preserve a large section of the island which hosts hundreds of leatherback turtle nests each year. These kids who dwell in the "concrete jungle" came away from the experience with a greater understanding of preservation of many areas in the world necessary to maintain various marine species.

"I think this movie was cool and it was nice of those kids to come to Puerto Rico to help out," fifth-grader Julian Small said. "Those kids had lots of courage to help save that piece of land."

"Students Saving the Ocean" showed kids from the west coast teaching others how to love the ocean. This film showed students how they can impact their own environment and to not be afraid and stand up for action to save the seas. It was a Judges Best pick and winner of the call to action category.

But one film, "Gimme A Hug," seemed to stir the students' curiosity of the ocean's most famous dweller-the shark. In this short film, one oceanographer filmed her interactions with reef sharks. Using a method called "tonic immobility" sharks would come and lay in her lap where she would pet them and put them in a trance-like state. These sharks normally dubbed as "man-eaters" instead displayed a gentler nature, not provocative as most would assume.

The kids from Thunderbolt were genuinely in awe of this phenomenon.

"It was kind of dangerous but exciting at the same time," fifth-grader Cierra Warren said of the shark encounter.

Savannah State University marine science graduate student Tyler Thompson, who works with students at Thunderbolt through a grant with the National Science Foundation, said it wasn't the actual festival that was the best part of the day, but the ride home on the bus after and the days that followed.

"The students saw children just like them active in marine science," Thompson said. "Since then they've been bouncing ideas around about what they can do. They have been thinking about what a difference they can do locally as well as globally. That was the impact this festival had on them."